Friday Report: 'Toy Story 3' Sets Toon Opening Day Record

by Brandon Gray

Toy Story 3

June 19, 2010

Generating an estimated $41 million, Toy Story 3 set a new opening day gross benchmark for an animated feature on Friday, surpassing Shrek the Third's $38.4 million. Among all opening days, Toy Story 3 ranked 12th, just ahead of Alice in Wonderland (2010). Its Friday gross included a $4 million midnight opening at around 1,500 venues.

WALL-E's $23.2 million was Pixar Animation Studios previous opening day high. The first Toy Story's first Friday was $11.5 million (or the equivalent of $21 million adjusted for ticket price inflation), while Toy Story 2's was $22.6 million (over $35 million adjusted). Their Fridays, though, weren't their first nationwide days, each having opened on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Toy Story 3 played on approximately 7,500 screens at 4,028 locations, 2,463 of which offered 3D presentations. 3D accounted for 60 percent of Friday's business. The 3D share was in line with Shrek Forever After, which offered 3D at 2,373 of its 4,359 locations on its opening. With the arrival of Toy Story 3 and the requisite loss of 3D showings, Shrek Forever After plunged 63 percent to an estimated $1.6 million on Friday, lifting its total to $219.1 million in 29 days.

If Toy Story 3 follows a similar pattern to WALL-E, which had the most Friday-loaded opening weekend among all of Pixar's summer releases, it would come in at around $110 million through Sunday.

In second place, The Karate Kid took a 53 percent Friday-to-Friday hit yet still grossed an estimated $8.9 million, growing its total to $86.2 million in eight days. The A-Team landed in third with an estimated $4.2 million, dropping 57 percent Friday-to-Friday, and its total is a relatively modest $40.2 million in eight days. Get Him to the Greek remained in fourth place and held decently, pulling in an estimated $2 million for a $43.7 million tally in 15 days.

Debuting with less than $2 million at 2,825 sites, Jonah Hex flamed out, just as its unappealing premise and marketing suggested it would. Its start was only slightly better than Punisher: War Zone and was much less than The Spirit and fellow DC Comics adaptation The Losers ($3.2 million).